Mon, Jan 16, 2006
AFOTEC Eval Included JDAM Deployment
Aero-News has learned the Air Force Operational Test and
Evaluation Center at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, NM recently
completed the F-22A Raptor Follow-on Operational Test and
Evaluation (FOT&E) -- and has rated the Air Force’s
newest fighter as mission capable in the air-to-ground role.
“This was a significant milestone in terms of validating
the F-22A’s combat capability,” said Major General
Robin Scott, AFOTEC commander. “We are confident we have
provided Air Combat Command and senior Air Force leaders with an
accurate and complete picture not only of the Raptor’s
impressive operational capabilities but also where additional
resources can be focused to further mature and sustain this 21st
Century fighter.”
The capabilities evaluated during the operational test included
the areas of deployability, sortie generation, and Joint Direct
Attack Munition (JDAM) employment. The test also evaluated Initial
Operational Test and Evaluation items that were deferred during the
original IOC process.
Those items were corrected, AFOTEC representatives told
Aero-News.
The “Mission Capable” rating is part of a new system
AFOTEC recently started applying to programs under test at the
center. The new rating methodology starts with traditional
effectiveness and suitability measures as a foundation for
determining potential operational impacts on mission accomplishment
in the expected operational environment. This new methodology was
developed by AFOTEC in an effort to provide warfighters and senior
Air Force leaders with capability-based evaluations that are
accurate, balanced, and more focused on actual operations
scenarios.
“It was the outstanding teamwork between AFOTEC and ACC
testers that enabled us to conduct the most complex operational
test ever on a tactical aircraft,” said Col. Matthew Black,
AFOTEC’s Detachment 6 commander at Nellis AFB, NV.
Nellis crews conducted the actual FOT&E, according to
AFOTEC.
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